SLCC adds to Utah's elite cross country tradition with JUCO national title

SALT LAKE CITY — A banner day for Salt Lake Community College added to the state of Utah's elite cross country tradition Saturday.

Emerald Kehr finished second overall with a time of 17 minutes, 35.40 seconds in the women's 5,000-meter race to lead the Bruins to their first-ever NJCAA women's cross country national championship at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Alabama.

Carli Nelson added a top-five finish in 17:44.50 for SLCC, while Grace Tipton finished ninth in 18:05.90 and Molly Jensen 11th in 18:18.40.

"We've been running as a pack with a strong group for the entire season," said Salt Lake coach Isaac Wood, who helms both the men's and women's programs. "We had these bright yellow jerseys, and kept looking for the ray of sunshine at the front of the race."

There was no bigger ray of sunshine than Kehr, a freshman who was one of the top mid-distance runners in the state at West High School.

"Finding her was an astronomical gift for us, considering she was one of the best in the state in the mile," Wood said. "She's been a fantastic runner for us, and she's a gamer. I knew having her in the mix would give us a shot to win down the stretch, and I thought that she ran a really strong race."

It's the fourth national title in school history for the Bruins, and the first in any women's sport after winning championships in men's basketball (twice) and men's soccer.

Ranked No. 1 in the country after cruising to the Region 18 title, the Bruins totaled 47 points to roll past second-place New Mexico Junior College's 93.

Salt Lake's JaQuavious Harris won an individual national title, finishing the men's 8,000-meter race in 23:18.00 to fend off New Mexico's Tomas Vegas by five seconds. The Bruins finished second overall to Colorado's Trinidad State 71-78.

"JaQuavious is a special talent," Wood said. "I was grateful that he decided to run for us. He's a gamer, and he runs with all his heart. But that's what he does; he's the most coachable athlete I've ever worked with. Him winning is huge for our program, and it was huge for our team score."

The championship day adds to an elite legacy of distance runners from the Beehive State, including a variety of high school national champions and a BYU women's program that has won five NCAA national championships — the most recent coming in the 2020-21 season.

The BYU men's program won a team championships in 2019 before Conner Mantz won back-to-back individual titles in 2020 and 2021.

Both programs that are ranked third nationally in NCAA Division I qualified for next week's NCAA Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia with a pair of runner-up finishes at the NCAA Mountain regionals in Lubbock, Texas.

Wood knows all about that legacy — he was on the staff at BYU from 2016-20 when both programs were among the best in the nation. The Utah native also has experience working at Weber State, Florida State and co-founding Utah's first professional running organization, in addition to starting SLCC's program and leading the women's team to a third-place finish at nationals in the first season of the program.

"I don't know how many times we need to start something from scratch to prove that Utah has the best distance running in the nation," joked Wood, who co-founded Run Elite Program (REP) with Olympian Jared Ward and Landon Southwick. "This is just a microcosm of what is an incredible state for distance running. It goes back to some fantastic high school coaches in the state, and some of the best college coaches, including my own assistants. It all just goes back to Utah producing some of the best distance runners in the country."

Salt Lake's national title is part of a banner fall for the Bruins, who qualified for the national title in all five fall sports the athletic department fields (men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball).

Each team sport combined to go 56-8-2 in regular-season competition.

The men's and women's soccer teams will open the NJCAA Tournament next week in Wichita, Kansass as the No. 3 and No. 7 overall seeds, respectively. Women's volleyball will open next week's NJCAA Tournament as the No. 4 seed.

"We have fantastic facilities and support that allows us to recruit NCAA Division-I caliber athletes," SLCC volleyball coach Shay Goulding-Meurer said. "We have a good reputation of getting athletes placed at the next level."

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